Category Archives: Mexican

Enchiladas are one of my favorite foods, but they are a bit filling and heavy for summer fare. I had a few zucchini to use up, and decided to try adding one to enchiladas. Worked great, added some low-calorie nutrition & a little extra texture without detracting from the yummy flavor. These were a hit, and we all liked them so much, I know I will never make my Mom’s Beef and Cheese Enchiladas without zucchini added in again. And pssst: you can totally “bake” these in the microwave – doesn’t take long, just until the cheese is melted.

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 9×13 dish with cooking spray and set aside.

Heat skillet over medium-high heat and add olive oil, swirling to coat bottom of pan. Add the zucchini and cook about ten minutes, stirring often, or until soft. Remove to a plate, then add the ground beef and cook until browned. Drain and add taco seasoning, water, and the cooked zucchini. Stir well and cook a few minutes longer. Remove from heat.

Wrap four tortillas in a damp paper towel and microwave for 30 seconds. Set aside a cup of the cheese to use for the top. Take tortillas one at a time, keeping the others wrapped, and put a little cheese in a line down the middle, then some of the beef mixture, about 2-3 tablespoons. Roll up tight and place in prepared dish. Repeat, warming additional tortillas as necessary, until all the filling is used. Pour enchilada sauce over the top, then sprinkle the remaining cheese over. Cover with foil and bake about 30 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Veronica’s note: I know it’s so much easier to buy pre-shredded cheese, but you just will never get the same glorious melt that you get with cheese you’ve shredded yourself. It’s worth the few minutes and extra clean up. Also, if you’d like to “bake” these in the microwave, it’s best to divide the recipe between two smaller microwave-safe dishes. Keep an eye on it and just let it go until the cheese is melted – should take five minutes or less. I prefer to do a few at a time on a plate.

This was the chili I made the Sweet Buttermilk Cornbread to go with last week. It was the smoky factor that called to me when I saw it on Tami’s blog, and it didn’t disappoint! I upped the spicy factor to suit our tastes and it was just wonderful. The only change I would make next time is to take the suggestion to run the red peppers through the food processor (and use two red peppers instead of one orange-lol), because I imagine that makes the chili thicker and more red and visually appealing. I wasn’t reading the recipe closely and just diced the peppers as I usually do, which was fine, but I look forward to trying it the recommended way.

And don’t be scared of the lentils! I personally have a distaste for regular lentils, but red lentils are totally different and do not have that earthy flavor to them at all. I found mine at a Lebanese market (you can get them at N & J Cafe’s market here in Wichita), and hope you’ll be able to find them in your area too. So much tastier than regular lentils, IMO.

This chili has a wonderful balance of flavors and I was impressed that the creator even thought to add vinegar, something I’ve never added to chili, but somehow it’s perfect here. You won’t really notice it, but it did need some tang to balance everything. So good, you won’t even miss the meat.

Blend the dates in one cup of the water until smooth (unless you have a water-tight food processor, use a blender, or the liquid will fly out. Lesson learned the hard way by me). Place the puree, along with all remaining ingredients in a stock pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 20 minutes, or until lentils are soft. Alternatively, you can cook in an electric pressure cooker and cook on high for 10 minutes, or in a slow cooker on low for 8 hours. Sprinkle with chopped scallions or Faux Parmesan and serve with baked tortilla chips or over a baked potato if desired.

*Chef AJ’s note: I like to use the food processor so it’s almost a puree.

*Veronica’s note: If you live in Wichita, go to The Spice Merchant for the smoked paprika and chipotle chile powder – you will pay much less than you would for the pricey McCormick spices, and they’re just as good!

Wow, that title is a mouthful! Sometimes it’s hard to stick to a two or three-word recipe name when there’s so much goodness going on with it. I had to tell you this was creamy, because that’s one of the best features of this dish. I had to tell you it features green chiles, both straight up and in salsa verde, because the flavor profile this creates with the creamy & cheesy ingredients is rockin’. And it’s a chicken enchilada casserole so I couldn’t exclude those words. For your sake, I didn’t mention the beans in the title, though I was tempted to call this “Creamy Green Chile Chicken & White Bean Enchilada Casserole.” You gotta draw the line somewhere, am I right?

Pretty much everything I eat right now seems like the best thing I’ve ever eaten in my life. So maybe it’s not true that this is the best thing I’ve ever eaten in my life, but it sure felt that way while I was eating it. It’s filling (yay for protein, fat and fiber! hehe), which made me so sad because I wanted to eat the whole casserole, in one sitting, all by myself. It seriously rocked my world. I was so excited to serve it to my husband (we hardly ever eat dinner together, and on this occasion I actually ate before him, which is unusual since he usually gets off work before me) and I tried not to lean over his shoulder to gauge his reaction. But I kinda did. He never gets excited about food like I do, but he said it was “really good” and ate a huge plateful rather quickly, then went back for more. I’d say that’s a big two thumbs up from the Den man!

There’s pepper in this dish, but the black flecks come mainly from the roasted salsa verde, linked to in the recipe.

I based the recipe off of my favorite Creamy Chicken Enchiladas, and maybe it’s just that I haven’t had them in over a year (so many recipes, so little time), but I do believe this green casserole version is even better than the original enchiladas. All I know is it’s good, and I would definitely make it for company!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13×9 pan with butter and set aside.

Salt your chicken breasts and cook them in a skillet or grill (I use my George Foreman). Allow to cool enough that they won’t burn your hands, then chop them up; set aside.

While the chicken is cooking, heat a skillet over medium-high heat and chop up your onion. Melt the butter in the heated skillet and add the onions, sautéing until softened. Stir in the green chiles and salsa verde and cook for 3-5 more minutes to cook off some of the liquid. Add the chicken, white beans, sour cream, cream of chicken soup, 2 cups of the cheese (reserve the rest for the top), garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Stir together until well blended and cheese is melted.

Spread a small amount of the chicken mixture over the bottom of your prepared pan, then put a layer of the quartered tortillas over it, slightly overlapping. Spread half of the remaining chicken mixture over the tortillas, then another layer of tortillas, and finish with the remaining chicken mixture. Sprinkle the reserved cheese over the top, then cover with foil that has been sprayed with cooking spray to keep the cheese from sticking (or use the nonstick foil). Bake for 15 minutes, remove foil, and bake another 5 minutes or until bubbling around the edges. Let sit 10 minutes before cutting.

Veronica’s notes: I highly recommend shredding your own cheese, as the preshredded kind doesn’t melt as well and IMHO, does not taste as good. You will need ¾ of an 8 ounce block of both cheddar and Monterrey Jack for this recipe (every 8 oz block makes 2 cups of shredded cheese). The tortillas are super simple to cut into quarters if you layer five tortillas and use a pizza cutter on them, or a chef’s knife. Also, this would make an excellent meatless meal if you just replace the chicken with another 2-3 cans of white beans.

A Veronica’s Cornucopia original, with help for transforming it into a casserole from 4 Little Fergusons

Usually on the rare occasion I ask Dennis if he will make something while I’m at work, I get the irritated face. The “I hate to cook why must you torture me?” face. The “wouldn’t you rather me rather scrub the toilet and clean the sink drain out by hand instead?” face. Cooking just isn’t his thing. It stresses him out.

But chili is another story. It’s what he lived on as a bachelor and may be the only thing that he really likes to cook. I handed him the recipe for this with instructions for adapting it to what we had, preparing myself for the sound of grinding teeth (worst sound ever!), but there was no teeth grinding and he didn’t even frown a little. He actually seemed excited. It was like I’d been speaking a foreign language all these years and I finally communicated something he understood. Even better, he reported that he “really enjoyed” making it. I think his enjoyment translated into the final product because this chili is incredible! It’s very simple, but oh so good, and if you top it with sour cream and cheese and scoop it up with tortilla chips, you get the total deluxe taco effect. :)

Brown the ground beef in a skillet over medium heat; drain. Combine with remaining ingredients in a large pot and stir together. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until you can stand it no longer. (Dennis simmered his for one hour.) Serve hot with optional toppings.

Veronicas note: There’s no need to remove the seeds from the jalapeno, unless you are very sensitive. Dennis left half the seeds in and this was a mild chili.

This month for the Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned to Itzy’s Kitchen. Erica lives a healthier lifestyle than I’m living now (she’s a fitness instructor and has lots of yummy, healthy eats on her blog), so browsing her blog got me back into the “healthy thinking mode.” I wish I didn’t have a switch that was either turned to “healthy” or “totally heart-clogging, butt dimple-building unhealthy,” but unfortunately, this is my history. I have decided to ease myself back into healthier eating as I need to lose the fifteen or twenty pounds I’ve gained since going off the rails in March, and Erica helped me do that.

I have been making quick stove top meals often this summer, and I was happy to find her recipe for veggie quesadillas because they were 1) healthy, 2) quick, ad 3) easy. Perfect summer eating.

We really enjoyed these, especially dipped in salsa. They come together so fast and easy and I know I’ll be making this again. FYI, if you have leftover filling, it’s great as a hot dip mixed with salsa with cheddar melting on top. But maybe not as healthy if you use as many tortilla chips as I did. >:)

Mix the black beans, corn, chili powder & cumin. If you’d like to add any other vegetables (I added onions), cook them in a skillet until softened and stir into the bean & corn mixture. Place one tortilla in a skillet over medium heat (you can oil the skillet if you like, but I didn’t) and sprinkle no more than ½ cup cheese over it, then scatter no more than ½ cup of the bean mixture over the cheese. Top with another tortilla. Once the cheese is melted on the bottom, about two minutes, carefully flip the quesadilla over and cook for an additional two minutes to heat through and crisp up the other tortilla. Remove to a plate and cook the remaining three quesadillas. Cut each into 6 triangles and serve with salsa and sour cream, if desired.

A special thank you to my friends Kriss and Nicole for generously giving me the Japanese steak plates pictured in this post, along with many other dishes that will be gracing my blog in the future. They are moving their family to Japan this week and not taking much with them, so I was the happy recepient of much of their dishware. It’s hard to say goodbye and feel like I have to do it too often (Japan has already stolen one of my friends!), but I wish you guys the best!

Like this:

The secret ingredients chosen for the Holiday Recipe Club‘s Cinco de Mayo blog hop were dulce de leche, tomatoes, and chorizo. For last month’s Easter blog hop, I went crazy and put a lot of effort into creating something with all three secret ingredients (carrot cracker treats with carrots, spinach, and eggs). This month, I’m totally cheating and taking the easy route by using this as an excuse to finally post my fresh salsa recipe that I won third place for at the fair last year.

My inspiration for the recipe came from my sister, Danielle, who usually only makes recipes that turn out things like soap, lip balm, or bath fizzies. But one edible thing she does make, and well, is fresh salsa. Her secret ingredient is orange juice, and while I didn’t follow her original recipe to a T, I did make sure to use some fresh orange juice in it. I also replaced the jalapeño with poblano, which is a mild pepper, sort of like a bell pepper with just a bit of kick to it. (I love spicy food but I was making this salsa for the “mild” category. The salsa also had to use fresh ingredients, which is why I didn’t just make my favorite salsa.) If you’d like a hotter salsa, dice up some seeded jalapeño instead!

The judges loved my salsa, but said it had a bit too much garlic, so I’ve adjusted the recipe to up it to blue ribbon status by cutting the garlic from four cloves (hey, what can I say, I love garlic!) to two (the amount in Dani’s original recipe–I should have listened to the expert!). But as with all recipes, just add amounts to suit your own tastes!

Finely dice the tomatoes, removing the seeded pulp as you go, and place them in a wire mesh sieve set over a bowl to drain for five minutes. Discard juice, then stir the tomatoes and all other ingredients together in a large bowl. Store in the refrigerator.

Makes 2 pints.

Recipe source: adapted from Danielle Davis

Check out the other Cinco de Mayo recipes in the blog hop by clicking below!

Oy, the ugly deliciousness of a casserole! I know there are amazing photographers that can make a scoop of casserole look great on a plate, but that has never been my fortune. As you can tell. Check out my King Ranch Chicken Casserole if you need further proof. Barfola.

All I have to say is, don’t judge a book by its cover. My buddy, Marina, submitted this recipe last year when I was hosting the BSI contest on my blog, and I ended up making it as soon as she sent it. After reading through it, I think you’ll see why I had to make it ASAP. Seriously–look at the ingredients in the recipe below. Whipping cream, butter, bacon grease and bacon? There is enough fat in there to make Paula Deen die a happy death.

Believe me, this casserole is in-cre-di-ble. Please make it and judge it by the flavor, not my photo skills. :)

Mix the first 6 ingredients for the Southwest Cornbread together and set aside. In a separate small bowl, beat together the buttermilk, bacon dripping and egg. Stir in dry ingredients only until moistened: DO NOT OVER MIX. Batter will be lumpy. Stir in corn, crumbled bacon, chilies, onions and cheese. Spoon batter over the top of the casserole and spread to edge of casserole covering chicken completely. Sprinkle with 1 cup of Monterrey Jack cheese.

Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes. Allow to stand for 5 to 10 minutes before serving so it can set up a little.